Paul Konerko (left) and Derek Jeter.
If you have read some of my past posts on this blog, you would know I am a big baseball fan. I have been a fan since I was a young kid, probably around 4 or 5 years old. It's the sport I've known the longest and holds a special place in my heart. It is also the sport I started playing when I was the youngest, around 7 years old. I played organized baseball from then until my junior year in high school. I would have played my senior year, but my friends convinced me to run track with them.
When I was growing up, I idolized the players in the big leagues who played the game better than I could ever dream of playing. As I grew older, many of these players retired and very few of them remain today. After tomorrow, at least two of the players I grew up watching will be gone.
Konerko.
One of them is Paul Konerko of the Chicago White Sox. Primarily a first baseman, Konerko, or PK as some call him, was a very good offensive first baseman, hitting for power and average. He was also pretty good defensively. In 2005, he helped the White Sox win the World Series. Aside from parts of two seasons in the late 90's, Konerko played for the White Sox his entire career, and has been on the team since 1999.
While Konerko may not ultimately wind up in the Hall of Fame, he will certainly have his supporters, and you could definitely make a case for him. Konerko is a .279 career hitter, a very respectable average, and has 439 career home runs, as well as 1412 RBI, 2340 hits, and 1192 runs scored. His career OBP is .347, he has a career slugging percentage of .487, and a career OPS. (Thanks, baseball-reference.) Impressive numbers, yes, but the Hall is very difficult to get in to. Other things to note, as mentioned, he was a World Series champion in 2005, and also a six-time All-Star. His numbers are comparable to Fred McGriff, David Ortiz, Jim Rice, Jason Giambi, Orlando Cepeda, Dave Winfield, and Willie Stargell, among others. Some of these players are HOFers, some are tainted or clouded by the issue of steroids, and some are simply borderline hall of famers. His 2340 hits, while very good, are nowhere near the "magic number" of 3000. He may be helped a bit by the fact that he played for one team for so long. Or that may not help at all.
In any case, Paul was very popular in Chicago and had a very good career. He did not play in a big-market city like Los Angeles, Boston, or New York. For me, I say he could be in the Hall. But ultimately, that conversation is for another day. Now is the time for sports fans to look back on his career and celebrate it. This year, Paul has played mostly in a reserve role. At 38, he is younger than the other player in this article. One would think he might try to play a little longer, but injuries and slowed production over the past year or so have unfortunately hastened the end of his career. He will be missed.
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Jeter.
And the other player who is retiring, in case you haven't heard, is Derek Jeter. Ah, yes, Derek Jeter. I remember the apex of the Red Sox rivalry during my lifetime, back in the late nineties and early 2000's. Jeter was often compared with Nomar Garciaparra, and Boston fans would insist that Nomar was the better shortstop. And to be honest, during his time with the Red Sox, I still contend that Nomar was better. Two batting titles, more power than Jeter, and a better batting average, the defensive skills somewhat of a wash. Nomar was fast; Jeter perhaps a bit faster. Nomar was clearly the better hitter at the time. However, after leaving Boston, Nomar's career was derailed by injuries (a process that might have started when he was still with the Red Sox.). He would have one more great year and a few decent years before retiring in 2009, at the age of 36. Jeter however, continued to play for several more years.
Jeter did not decline at the same time as Nomar. He put up solid offensive numbers until his final year, which wasn't bad. He did not spend significant time injured until his penultimate season in 2013. When all was said and done, Jeter had played 20 seasons, accumulated 3460+ hits (6th all time), held a lifetime .309 average, 1923 runs scored, and various other unfathomable statistics. He will certainly be a first ballot Hall-of-Famer. His longevity and consistent solid play, rarely uninterrupted by injuries (from his first full season to his last, he had over 500 at bats every season but 2013, when he missed almost the entire season), put some of his offensive marks very high on the all-time list. We're talking top 5, top 10 EVER.
Despite being the only New York Yankee to ever record 3000 hits, Jeter is considered only the 6th best Yankee ever. The five generally mentioned ahead of him are Babe Ruth, the longtime home run king, Lou Gehrig, the original Iron Man, Joe DiMaggio, best known for his apparently unbreakable record 56-game hitting streak, Mickey Mantle, considered one of the best centerfielders of all time, and Yogi Berra, that catcher who makes the funny statement (and a Hall-of-Famer). Again, longevity really helped Jeter's legacy. But, like Gehrig, Ripken, Yaz, and others who played for a long time with one team, you have to be really good and really well-liked. I know I keep mentioning the fact that these guys played for one team, but that is very significant and rare in today's game, where short-term contracts and disloyalty are the name of the game. It's truly remarkable that Jeter and last year's Jeter, Mariano Rivera, played for one team their entire career, because in recent years, that has not happened very often. This is true for all sports.
A nice moment.
Jeter's goodbye tour is more widely publicized than Konerko's. This is to be expected, considering he played for the New York Yankees and won five World Series championships. Of course, being a Red Sox fan (especially with the way the Red Sox season has gone), I get kind of tired of this at times. Because it seems forced or fake (what with the big deal commercials, etc.) On the other hand, I understand. He's Derek Jeter. He is the face of baseball and has been for a long time. Who will represent the sport now? These shoes are big to fill indeed. It's going to be weird for the Yankees now, as Jeter's number will certainly be retired, and no one will ever wear a single digit number for the team again.
When it's all said and done - and I'm done saying things - both these players meant a great deal to their city, baseball itself, and team sports in general. It's special these days to see a player spend so many years on one team, and to play so well. When these two players hang up the cleats for the last time tomorrow, baseball will have a void there that can never truly be filled. It's been a pleasure watching you guys compete all these years. Good luck in whatever comes next.
